This week I was out on Monday and Tuesday meeting my new niece (born Monday morning) and taking care of my 20 month old twin niece and nephew while their mama was in the hospital. Thanks for your understanding with my absence! The Fox Kits were in good hands with Ms. Claudine while I was out.
We also had a new teacher, Ms. Tessa, join us on Wednesday. She is a junior at UVM in the Elementary Education Program. She will be student teaching in our room from now until April break on Mondays and Wednesdays (mostly half days, some full days). We are so happy to have her join us!
We began a PBL (Project Based Learning) Unit on Sound this week. We have worked this week on gaining background and working knowledge of sound and how it is produced. We observed a bee buzzing in a flower, we noticed sounds in our classroom and sounds in the hallway, we explored with different materials to see how we could make them vibrate or move to create sounds, and we tested out different materials to make the best kazoo. We have done a lot of reading, writing, sharing, talking, listening, and hands-on exploring with sound this week!
We read a few books to go along with our sound learning: Sounds All Around, Max Found Two Sticks, and Charlie Parker Played Be Bop. We listened to a clip of Charlie Parker playing the saxophone.
We worked a lot this week on perfecting our measuring techniques--making sure to go end to end in a straight line and look carefully to see if something is exactly 5 inches or in between 4 and 5 inches (for example). We also used a third object to help us compare lengths of objects--noticing what is shorter and what is longer. We put many things in order, comparing them and lining them up from longest to shortest or from shortest to longest (depending on the day).
Most of us finished writing our first teaching books this week! We learned a lot about writing facts to teach about something part by part. We are ready to teach and write about a new topic. In this next teaching book we will also learn more about writing good beginnings (an introduction with a hook) and good endings (conclusions).
Coming up in a few weeks is Valentine's Day. We will do a valentines exchange with our class. Your child can make them at home or make them in school that week. If your child wants to participate please make sure there is a card for each student, not just a few. I've sent home a class list of names to help you if your child is making valentines at home. We will exchange valentines on Wednesday morning February 14th. Please don't send in any candy or food!
Dates to Remember:
February 5 - afternoon Library times start weekly!
February 6 - Flynn Theater workshop for "Pilobolus Shadowland" 9:45-10:30
February 8 - Scholastic Book Orders Due (online or send in flyer with check by 2/8 at 8:00 a.m.)
Friday February 9 - field trip to the Flynn Theater to see "Pilobolus Shadowland"
Wednesday February 14 - Valentines card exchange
Wednesday February 14 - Early Dismissal 12:15 -- Teacher In-Service -- No After school Programs, all students dismissed at 12:15
Monday February 26 - Tuesday March 6 - Winter Break (3/5 and 3/6 are Teacher In-Service days)
Wednesday March 7 - school resumes
Have a great weekend!
❤ Mrs. Fox
No comments:
Post a Comment